january '17: white ether.

nature coated with crystals.

on my last day at my parent's place i was surprised with a fairy tale country upon waking up. the sun was shining brightly and the frost & fog of the day prior turned nature into something indescribably beautiful, a surreal landscape, a different universe alltogether. i immediately put on shoes and started walking, i didn't want to miss this wonderful opportunity to capture the almost ethereal beauty mother nature had on offer that day. i don't have a lot more to say about these pictures, so just sit back, and enjoy a little bit of my temporarily sugar-coated homeland.

crushed ice.

the many variations of white & blue were simply breath-taking. it was a sight to behold and something i don't want to forget. moments like this make me feel so glad i grew up in a tiny solitudal village.

schlossteich ( castle's lake ) under ice. our village once had a castle, but it was demolished by russians & local farmers after world war II. i always thought of that part of history as a crime, i'd really would've loved it if we had a castle to show off as a point of interest. anyway, the castle's islet was a huge playground for us village kiddos growing up, lots of adventures were had all over the place, including exploring the old cellars ( which were partly entombed and actually quite dangerous ) and rummaging through the little forest growing all over it ( it was our jungle & we were treasure hunters in search of gold & jewels ). in recent years they cleared the islet and restored the cellars & parts of the castle's fundaments.

i also remember ice skating on the lake every year when i was about 6 to 10 yrs old, but after that the ice never got thick enough to hold persons anymore. and after a kid drowned in the lake it was also forbidden to do any further ice skating. i still hold very dear memories to this little islet, though, it really contributed to my continuing love of nature & reminds me of the freedom i experienced in my childhood.

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november: kickelhahn, himmelblau & weimar cemetery.

i had a week off in november and visited my parents ( as i often do on my vacations ). on a sunday morning we headed to the thuringian forest to climb onto the peak of the kickelhahn mountain. the kickelhahn mountain is the landmark mountain of the city of ilmenau . johann wolfgang von goethe , the famous writer & philosopher, often visited ilmenau and also climbed the kickelhahn. oftentimes he stopped at a little hut in the woods to relax for a while and on one of these stops he wrote one of his most known poems. our little adventure didn't last the whole day, though, as we had a little date with the weimar cemetery to look after the grave of my grandparents and then to visit my cousin and his family. tiny peek onto the kickelhahn tower. thuringian woods - deep dark green. at the goethe hut. this plate shows the german version of the poem goethe wrote here. inside the hut. and here's the english translation. i love this poem so much, as ...

in the forests.

it's that time of the year again.

july '20: lake petersdorf discoveries and a plea against genocide.

the green wild meadows of malchow's sandfeld. in the west of malchow there is a big chunk of forest that spans towards plauer see, a widely 'uncultivated' area these days, but it hasn't always been this way. in my last post i mentioned the nazi munition factory that had been built in these woods, away from prying eyes of their enemies and where they also built an external subcamp for the concentration camp ravensbrück. exactly these woods we explored on a pretty sunny day, betraying the darkness that happened around these parts. isn't it weird that there are places in this world that were built or used by dark forces and horrible regimes and you vist them 80 years later and they are the most peaceful places you can imagine? sometimes my brain can't cope with the contrast of knowing what was in the past and what the present looks and feels like. it definitely leaves me with a strange impression often, kind of like a little sting in my heart and brain that is not ...

ghost of nature.

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